Wait is not over: Signal-free corridor misses another deadline

HCS CEO Shahid Saleem said the addition of a flyover would add Rs300 million to the project cost

LAHORE:

The signal-free corridor between Qurtaba Chowk on Jail Road and Liberty Roundabout on Gulberg’s Main Boulevard has missed the November 20 revised deadline owing to the construction of an additional flyover and related works.

The Habib Constriction Service (HCS), who have the construction contractor, hope that the 7.6-kilometre stretch will be completed in a couple of week, except for the flyover which they say will take another month or so.

HCS Chief Executive Officer Shahid Saleem says three projected u-turns on Jail Road, the carpeting of the road and a flyover at Gulberg’s Fawara Chowk are yet to be completed.

“The Lahore Development Authority has been pressing us to build the flyover by December 31, but it might take longer,” he said.

Temporary u-turns have been created using concrete barriers on Jail Road near the Canal Bridge, Zafar Ali Road and Fawara Chowk. Saleem said the u-turns had been erected for the LDA and Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) engineers to monitor the flow of traffic.

Saleem said u-turns on Gulberg’s Main Boulevard had been completed. Some development work remains at Liberty Chowk, he said. Kerbstones had been installed and the carpeting of road had been completed along most of Main Boulevard. In some areas, markings on the road are underway. Underpasses at Shadman and Fawara Chowks have already been opened.

Saleem said the addition of a flyover would add Rs300 million to the project cost.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2015.